Why Does The Protagonist In Kiss Of Smoke Make That Choice?

She returned to bury her father. Instead, she was forced to marry his enemy’s son. - Rosalind Marlow returns to New York to settle her father’s affairs, once one of the city’s most feared mafia bosses, only to find he died beside his greatest rival… and left behind a contract binding her to the rival’s son. Viktor Marino is cold, calculating, and infuriatingly magnetic. Rosa has no intention of becoming anyone’s pawn, not in grief, not in business, and definitely not in bed. But Viktor plays a long game, and with every stare, every challenge, he pulls her deeper into a world of secrets, power, and heat. She was raised to be untouchable. He was born to conquer. And in the space between vengeance and desire, who is going to lose control first? (Contains mature and dark content) ***** EXCERPT ‘Why would you want to leave this behind?’ he growled in my ear, his chest rumbling against my back. Because I can’t trust you. Because I don’t know what I want. ‘Because it’s cruel,’ I whispered. And then he pulled away, leaving me trembling, desperate, and furious.” ❦

I was the second princess of the Phoenix Court. And I fell in love with a lowly black serpent. In my past life, just to be with him, I purposely picked that black serpent during the Sacred Bonding ceremony when we each chose our companion beasts. After that, we spent every night together. I didn't care what the whole clan thought. I was determined to marry him. But on our wedding day, that same serpent I'd given my heart to drove an arrow straight through me, killing me while I was three months pregnant. As I lay dying, I heard him hiss bitterly in my ear, "If it weren't for you, I'd have been with Seraphine by now. You should've died a long time ago." That's when I finally got it. All he cared about was power. And he'd been in love with my older sister all along—the sister who was next in line for the Phoenix throne. When I opened my eyes again, we were back at that same moment—the Sacred Bonding ceremony. Before everyone, he dropped to his knees and confessed he loved my sister. He begged not to be bound to me. The whole clan looked at me with pity. But I only smiled and pointed to a small white serpent resting quietly off to the side. That black serpent thought clinging to my sister would make him powerful. What he didn't realize was that only the one I chose would become the true heir to the Phoenix Court.

From the moment she was born, Seraphina Grant was doomed to live a life without being loved. Her dad, the Alpha of the pack, said to her, "You owe Layla too much. Give her the Moonshadow Blade blessed by the Moon Goddess." Her mom, the Luna, asked her, "Are you really going to stand by and watch Layla die? We're just asking that you give her a bit of your life essence each day. You'll be fine." Later, Seraphina met Damien Norman. He swore that across lifetimes, whether as a wolf spirit or in human form, he would love only her. But later still, Damien told her, "Layla ended up like this because of you. Staying with her is my way of helping you atone." Even her son said, "I don't want you to be my mom. I want Aunt Layla!" In the end, every single one of them demanded that she give her life for her sister, Layla Grant. All because she belonged to the legendary Sunfire bloodline and possessed the power of Ember Rebirth. So Seraphina did what they wished and set her own life ablaze, not to trade it for Layla's, but to erase them all from her heart forever.

Vows of Silver and Sin “In the city of Oakhaven, you don’t pray to God. You pray to the Syndicate.” Elara Vance is a mafia princess with a lethal secret: she can "read" the memories of any object she touches. But in a world where magic is a death sentence, her gift is a gilded cage. When her father’s gambling debts finally come due, she isn’t sold for gold. She’s sold to Dante Vane the cold-blooded "Shadow-Walker" Don who rules the supernatural underworld. Dante is a man of iron and whispers, cursed with a touch that brings only agony. He doesn’t want a wife; he wants a key. He believes Elara’s bloodline is the only thing that can break the ancient curse tethering his soul to the shadows. The deal is simple: Break the curse, and she wins her freedom. But as the wedding bells toll and a magical war brews on the horizon, Elara discovers that the man she was taught to fear might be the only one capable of saving her. In a den of monsters, falling in love is the most dangerous sin of all. Will she break his curse, or will the shadows consume them both?

Shantali Mae Cross, a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Ancient Arts, encounters an impossible phenomenon during her night shift—smoke from the heating vents coalesces into the form of a cobra near ancient Egyptian canopic jars, showing her visions of possible futures. She sees herself accepting a promotion, arguing with a dark-haired man in a hospital, wearing a wedding dress, and standing at a graveside in autumn. Shaken by the experience, Shantali becomes obsessed with understanding what she witnessed, diving into research about serpent smoke divination practices. Her investigation reveals that others throughout history have experienced similar visions at crucial crossroads in their lives, but those who became consumed with interpreting and controlling their prophetic glimpses inevitably destroyed the very relationships and opportunities the visions had shown them. As Shantali spirals deeper into her research, she begins shutting out her boyfriend David, a fellow security guard who loves her deeply. When David witnesses the cobra phenomenon himself, he helps ground her in reality rather than obsession. Through her studies, particularly the warnings left by Dr. Amelia Thorne—a researcher who died alone after chasing similar mysteries—Shantali realizes the cobra's true message: choose love over fear, presence over obsession. The visions weren't warnings of tragedy but glimpses of a life fully lived with all its ordinary struggles and profound connections. When David proposes, Shantali chooses their real relationship over her pursuit of supernatural answers. She completes her research by writing a fictional novel about her experience, transforming obsession into art while helping future cobra witnesses understand that some mysteries are meant to guide rather than be solved. The story explores themes of choice versus destiny, the danger of sacrificing present love for future certainty, and the wisdom of embracing life's uncertainties alongside those who love us.

Ivy Cruz is broke, desperate, and out of options. With debt collectors closing in and her brother fighting for his life in a hospital bed, she has no choice but to accept a dangerous deal from the gangster she owes everything to. His demand? Pretend to be the wife of Damon Williams—a cold, ruthless billionaire who was believed to have died in a fire. The offer is impossible to resist. If she plays the part, Ivy can take whatever she wants from Damon, enough to pay off her debts and save her brother. Refusing means certain death at the gangster’s hands. But what Ivy never expected… is that Damon would believe her. Two years ago, Damon lost his wife, Selena, in the fire. Her body was never found. Now Ivy stands before him—identical in every way, down to the secret birthmark only he ever knew. Dragged into a dangerous lie, Ivy becomes the shadow of a woman she never met. Damon, consumed by grief and obsession, is convinced fate has returned his wife to him—and he will never let her go. As Ivy steps deeper into his dark, possessive world, she can’t shake the guilt of living another woman’s life. But with secrets about the fire beginning to unravel, one question burns hotter than the rest: What really happened the night Selena died? And when Damon discovers the truth, will Ivy survive his wrath… or his love? Because when love rises from ashes—it can either heal or burn everything to the ground.